In the last few years, environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics have become common in boardrooms, as investment funds with an ESG focus have raised billions and ESG’s non-financial metrics are increasingly factored into how investors and other stakeholders evaluate corporations. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also expressed an interest in ESG disclosure more broadly and has indicated the potential for rulemaking in the near future.

ESG practices and trends tend to be discussed as if there is one standard for all public companies, from the S&P 100 to small-cap growth industries. In an effort to understand the common practices of pre-commercial biotech companies, Fenwick’s newest report draws insights from a survey of 100 executives at biotech companies with market capitalizations ranging from $100 million to more than $4 billion as well as representatives of investment banks, venture capital firms and hedge funds.